Youth and elders game for throat singing

TAMARA MACPHERSON
AWG Host Society

IQALUIT — Challenging your partner with ability, speed and perseverance, practicing regularly and gaining strength with each day, a never-ending process of learning, sharing and honing skill — throat-singing is all this, and so much more.

Throat-singing will take centre stage at the 2002 Iqaluit Arctic Winter Games.

A group of individuals — youth and elders — are meeting each week to make plans to recruit and train others in the traditional game and art of throat singing. These plans are being made in preparation for the 2002 Iqaluit Arctic Winter Games, boasting the biggest and most diverse cultural program in the 32-year history of the games.

The vision of the throat-singing sub-committee is to bring youth and elders together in the spirit of sharing something that is unique to Inuit culture and tradition. The throat singers who are recruited, trained and nurtured will remain a legacy of the 2002 games for generations to follow.

“There are so few young people that throat-sing across the territory,” explains 25-year-old Sylvia Cloutier, a throat-singer and key member of the games throat-singing committee.

Sylvia was born in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, and moved back and forth between the South and North before moving to Iqaluit. “I feel so connected to my roots when I throat-sing. Being able to share and keep the tradition alive is so important to me,” Sylvia says.

Sylvia drew on the talents of many people in her quest to learn to throat-sing. “Many people who throat-sing did so from a very young age, learning from their family. I didn’t start to learn until I was 19,” Sylvia says.

Her grandmother’s grandmother (who Sylvia is named after) had a passion for throat-singing. Sylvia has learned her art from a cousin, three Kuujjuaq elders, a number of friends, and co-performer and special friend Madeleine Allakarialak.

She stresses that it is never too late to learn to throat-sing and that those who sing are always happy to share their knowledge with those wo have an interest in it. “Whatever I learn I share. It’s keeping our culture alive. When we learn about our culture, we learn about ourselves.”

Sylvia has performed around the globe in recent years. In March 2000 she and Madeleine performed at the Expo in Hanover, Germany. She performed with her band, Aqsarniit, in Tokyo, Japan, in March 2001. Both Sylvia and Madeleine were performing at a Festival in Italy at the time of publication of this article.

In addition to performing, Sylvia has shared her skills with many others, including students from Nunavut Sivuniksavut in Ottawa. She adds that there are many different styles of throat singing, even on Baffin Island alone.

“You will notice a difference in the style and sound of throat-singers from different regions. Bringing singers together from across Nunavut at the Arctic Winter Games will be an incredible opportunity for sharing and learning, not only amongst singers, but with people across Canada and around the circumpolar North,” she says.

“I think we’ll see all kinds of people getting interested and involved when they are introduced to throat-singing at the Arctic Winter Games.”

The 2002 Iqaluit Arctic Winter Games throat singing sub-committee will meet every Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Parnaivik Building Board Room, 2nd floor.

Interested individuals are extended an open invitation to attend or to call the cultural programs manager, Caroline Cournoyer, at 979-2002 for more information.

The 2002 Iqaluit Arctic Winter Games will be held in Iqaluit from March 17-23, 2002. The Arctic Winter Games is the most prestigious multi-national, multi-cultural, multi-sport event in the circumpolar North.

The Games reach nearly a million people from communities across Canada, Greenland, Russia and the U.S., and they are second-to-none in having an ability to promote the history, culture and artistic traditions of the north — directly to millions of observers — for an entire week.

In addition to a spectacular opening and closing ceremony, the games will boast five nightly cultural galas featuring performers from the nine participating contingents from around the circumpolar north.